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Gender and sexuality in Krakozhia
Views on gender and sexuality in Krakozhia have been influenced by culture, tradition, and social reform, and have undergone widespread changes with women's rights seeing great advances since the establishment of communist rule and the government no longer exerting strict control over sexual behaviour, which is now seen as a personal matter. Women As a socialist state, the Krakozhian FPR places great emphasis on the equality of the sexes, and since the formation of the Krakozhian FPR great strides have been made in the emancipation of women in the country. Krakozhia boasts one of the largest women labour forces in the world, with some 88.5% of working age women going to work outside the home. In addition, the constitution of the Krakozhian FPR lists work as a duty and a right, with women not being exempted from this. It should be noted, however, that women in Krakozhia primarily work in jobs traditionally thought of as "women's" jobs, such as post and telephones or trade, although many women also work in agriculture, forestry, and industry. Despite this, it is important to recognise that, whilst women make up a low percentage of the workforce in such "men's" sectors as building and transport (around 15% and 27% respectively), this is still an improvement over many other states, and the situation continues to improve. Surveys conducted by universities in Krakozhia show that both men and women believe that a women's personality can only be fully developed if she has profession and that for a woman to "just a housewife" is unacceptable, reflecting views in much of the rest of the Tabi'atstani bloc. Perhaps most importantly, surveys have shown that the majority of Krakozhian workers take their female superiors just as seriously as if they were male. On the other hand, political representation of women in Krakozhia is quite low, with only 28.4% of parliamentary seats being held by women. Within the Krakozhian Workers' Party, only seven women have ever become candidates of the Politburo, and whilst there have been numerous women Central Committee department heads, they typically have served in "traditional" women departments, namely the Department of Culture, the Department of Women, and the Office of the Politburo. A similar situation can be seen in the cabinet of the Krakozhian government and other governmental institutions. Nevertheless, one-third of judges, 25% of school principals, and 13% of mayors in Krakozhia are women. Official conceptions of masculinity and femininity (or depictions of men and women in general) in Krakozhia have changed drastically since the times of the Krakozhian Commonwealth and the Pan-Krakozhian Confederation. In propaganda, women have shifted from primarily being depicted as secretaries or housewives to being pictured in clothing representative of workers involved in physical labour, such as hardhats and overalls, as well as being shown operating trucks, cranes, and other machinery, although it is important to note that traditional concepts of femininity continue to be represented in official publications. Macho male attitudes are looked upon with disdain in Krakozhia, with gender roles typically being ignored in joint tasks; for instance, it is common that both partners of a marriage in Krakozhia will do the shopping. Indeed, state-run women's committees work to educate boys and men to accept girls and women as equal comrades and to spread the message that male chauvinism is a remnant of the pre-socialist past. A point of continuity, however, is that the traditional muscular working class male with physical strength and stamina continues to be depicted in propaganda, despite the move towards more white-collar and professional jobs. Women's emancipation has been used by the Krakozhian government as a way to criticise democracy, with the government stating that many of the advances of women's rights in former Warsaw Pact countries have been lost since the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1989. Furthermore, the Krakozhian government has cited Western resistance or hostility to placing quotas on the number of women in national legislatures and other government organs on the grounds of their being undemocratic as an instance of the hypocrisy of liberal democratic systems whose ideology promises equality but does not deliver it. There has been a problem of the KRP occasionally simply altering the form of traditional women's responsibilities to husbands and children rather than challenging sexist views. For instance, in the 1970s, the Krakozhian government began a project called the Little Family School that consisted of two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part consisted of ten lectures, seminars and discussions, with films and slides, covering such topics as: the drive for a better life for women and children, spearheaded by the party; the position of women in socialist society; knowledge of oneself as a woman, and of the opposite sex; the care of the mother and the child by the socialist health service; the physical and mental development of the child in the first year of its life; infectious diseases and the struggle against them; the position of women in the family and in society; inter-human relationships, friendship and love, woman and marriage; woman as mother-educator, whilst the practical part consisted of courses in cooking, knitting and household management. One can see that the project was initially clearly biased towards women and the traditional sexual division of labour, but by 1979 there were calls by the government for similar schools to be arranged for boys and young men, and that the theoretical part of the project should take precedence over the practical part as quite a few topics of the theoretical part cover interpersonal relationships, a topic which has been largely neglected by socialist theory and practice. Women in Krakozhia have been absorbed primarily in occupations where a significant proportion had been employed before, although individual women are employed in virtually every listed occupation. Whilst women in Krakozhia on the whole being more evenly distributed over the occupational structure than their counterparts in the West, the differing proportions of women in different job categories are still quite noticeable. As in the West, sex continues to be an important criterion for the social division of labour; for instance 60-80% of all Krakozhian women are employed in traditionally 'feminine' sectors of the economy such as teaching, the health service and social welfare, trade and public catering, posts and communications, and in the textile, clothing, food, tanning and fur industries. Divorce Divorce in Krakozhia is much easier than in most countries, with property being divided equally between the man and the woman, and both having equal opportunities to argue for custody of children. As in much of the world, courts in Krakozhia must take into account the consequences of a divorce on both partners and the needs of children before granting a divorce. Reproductive rights In 1968, production of oral contraceptives and IUDs began in Krakozhia, although they are only available on prescription. Production of condoms was also improved with a Dutch license, with these being available in newspaper kiosks, stores, pharmacies, and vending machines. Condoms for the domestic market are different from those for export, with those for domestic use being produced in natural shades and those for export produced in colours. Other nonprescription contraceptives produced in Krakozhia include foams, tablets, creams, suppositories, and cervical caps, with diaphragms being imported from the United Kingdom. 70% of the cost of contraceptives are subsidised by the state, and since 1969 physicians are required to offer contraceptive advice after delivery and after abortion, with every new mother having to sign a certificate confirming that she has received such counselling. In 1969, the Krakozhian Ministry of Health issued a directive allowing women to undergo voluntary sterilisation in cases where reversible methods had proven ineffective and repeated pregnancies seriously endangered the life and health of the woman after the patient had given a written application supplemented by supporting certificates from other medical specialists. On the other hand, vasectomies are not permitted. In the early 1970s, abortions on demand were legalised and the pill was introduced to Krakozhia. Unlike in Western countries, this did not cause widespread controversy, and was generally accepted in Krakozhian society. LGBT rights Whilst homosexuality was decriminalised in 1957 and legalised in 1964, it was still considered an abnormality and even an illness up through the 1960s. The 1964 criminal code removed laws dating back to the Krakozhian Commonwealth and Pan-Krakozhian Confederation which governed male prostitution and intergenerational sex, but also set the age barrier prohibiting homosexual activity for those below the age of 18 (the age of majority for heterosexual activity on the other hand was set to 14). Furthermore, those who openly embraced their homosexuality found themselves being denied positions within the government, the party, state bureaucracy, police, military, and mass organisations. It was only in the 1970s that homosexuality began to be accepted in Krakozhian society, although progress was swift and by the 1980s the only threat the government felt arose from homosexuals was in the sphere of public health, particularly in terms of the spread of diseases such as Hepatitis B. Nevertheless, the formation of organisations representing gay interests were not permitted until after the Poldovian War of Independence in 1989. Bizarrely, the Krakozhian state security forces have been interested since the mid-1960s in recruiting gays as they are considered to be "discriminating, careful, and selective with whom they shared information and intimate exchange" and "naturally conspiratorial". Furthermore, they are seen as intelligent and socially engaging, and it is believed that due to their being accustomed to extralegal treatment they are not so easily influenced when put under pressure. Pornography and prostitution Under Krakozhian law, prostitution and pornography are banned. However, by the 1980s, Krakozhia had developed a liberal attitude towards sexuality, particularly in large cities like Tikomira, Lipask, and Ljudlěs, with nude photography, strip dance, and erotic films and animation emerging. Prostitution is viewed by the Krakozhian government as parasitism, that is, "making a living improperly and avoiding honest work". Technically, this means that only professional prostitutes may be prosecuted under the criminal code, although in reality criminal laws are supplemented by a number of administrative offences that include work avoidance, acting "against socialist coexistence", and acting "against morality". Furthermore, in 1969 the scope of parasitism was widened to allow for the punishment of those partially living off of income derived from prostitution. Prostitutes may also be charged with disorderly conduct and "exercise of fornication offensive to the youth" that has an adverse effect on the "moral development of the youth". Pimping is also illegal, with pimps also being charged with parasitism. However, clients of prostitutes are completely ignored in Krakozhian law. All prostitutes are suspected of carrying STIs, and under the 1966 Act on the Care of the National Health they may be subjected to involuntary medical examinations and treatment. Furthermore, in Krakozhia the act of endangering another with a sexually transmitted disease is a punishable act in its own right, and other general criminal provisions related to harm to the person cover the passing of a disease to another. Due to the fact that prostitution was believed to have been eradicated with the rise of the new socialist state in 1947, the criminalisation of prostitution and pimping did not occur until 1956, and their existence was only reluctantly admitted. Furthermore, the 1956 criminal code was fundamentally concerned with work avoidance, even if it also aimed at prostitution. Interestingly, the 1956 criminal code also retained laws governing male prostitution and intergenerational sex that had existed since the times of the Krakozhian Commonwealth and Pan-Krakozhian Confederation, as these were seen as helping to defend the sexual integrity and thus the healthy development of the youth (however, in 1957 the code was again revised to remove these laws). Medical approaches An Institute of Sexual Pathology had existed in Krakozhia since 1921, and had been renamed the Sexological Institute in 1950. However, its position was quite tenuous, and it was almost dissolved in 1952, only being saved in 1953 due to individual ties to other chief doctors of university clinics, and was renamed again to the Laboratory for Infertility, reflecting its primary role at the time. In 1966, it regained its old name, becoming the Sexological Institute again. Indeed, during the 1960s, collaborations between sexology and other medical branches intensified, and a special section for psychiatric sexology was launched by the Krakozhian psychiatric association in 1967. A real breakthrough in the institutionalisation of sexology in Krakozhia came in 1974 when the Ministry of Health published a document which defined sexology as a medical field and decreed the layout for specialised care in regions. This was closely followed by another decree which called for the creation of sexological wards in psychiatric hospitals to help deal with sexual deviants. In 1956, the first sexual advice book for older adolescents and young adults was published in Krakozhia, which addressed contraception in a positive manner, warned against the use of abortion as a form of contraception, and taught that sex was for pleasure, not just procreation. Apart from helping disseminate knowledge of sex education, the book was also partially designed to reduce the influence of the Church on citizens' personal lives. Krakozhia has a Government Population Commission that was formed in 1957 which is responsible for observing and analysing population developments, and subsequently making suitable recommendations to the government. In 1965 the Krakozhian government began to establish family and sexual counselling centres, with there currently being a network of some 1,145 of these centres spread across the country. The main issues that prompt people to visit these centres in Krakozhia are contraception/abortion, marital violence/alcoholism, a spouse's adultery, and sexual matters such as frigidity, impotence, and sexual disorders. In Krakozhia, sexology is not a specialisation in medical school, and is instead a postgraduate discipline of psychiatry. Sexual deviance in Krakozhia is measured by its deleterious effect on the national economy or how it endangers work, rather than due to moral or similar concerns. Sex education In 1965, the Krakozhian government began to include sex education as part of the State Pedagogical Plan, with the objective being to convey factual information and foster consideration of biological, psychological, and social aspects of human reproduction within the context of socialist sexual ethics. Krakozhian publishing houses have produced a broad range of educational publications aimed at adults, adolescents, and children, as weIl as at parents, teachers, and medical personnel. Government intervention Whilst casual sex and promiscuity are discouraged, the Krakozhian government has made efforts since the 1950s to remove the stigma of premarital sexual activity, stating that emphasis on chastity was merely bourgeois moralising, and by the 1980s marital guides published by the Krakozhian government focused on pleasure as much as on reproduction, and with medical diagrams being replaced by photographs of the erotic variety, with this having the added effect of seeming to place the Krakozhian government on the side of the youth, similar to the arena of sports where youth and government interests overlapped. However, it is important to keep in mind that the Krakozhian government places great significance on the link between sex and love. Indeed, Krakozhian propaganda portrays Western (and often particularly American) views towards sexuality as exploitative and aimed towards profit, in stark contrast with the healthy socialist alternative. With the advent of the 1970s, the government effectively gave up attempting to intervene in citizens' sexual behaviour. Category:Krakozhia Category:Krakozhian culture